DIBELS
What is Dibels?
The DIBELS measures are indicators of the skill area they are designed to assess. Each DIBELS measure is a quick and efficient indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.
**Yes it is good to see your child meet the DIBELS benchmark goals; however, in DIBELS, the benchmark levels are minimum acceptable levels rather than the goal. The goal is for most students to be above these benchmarks.
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
What skills does PSF measure?
- Phoneme segmentation is a component of phonemic awareness.
- PSF measures the ability to segment word parts, specifically, whether the student can segment one-syllable words with two to five phonemes, into its phonemes.
- Students who cannot segment words into phonemes (sounds) may later have difficulty matching phonemes with graphemes (a letter or letter combination that represent sounds).
These students are likely to have difficulty recoding (blending) the sounds in written words, even if they can accurately identify the letter sounds.
- Without phonemic awareness, phonics will make little sense to the struggling reader.
What are some common characteristics of PSF scores?
- The highest scores are obtained if the student separates the words into phonemes. However, the student earns points by accurately naming any part of the word.
- A student who cannot name at least 35 parts in one minute by the end of kindergarten is at risk for not meeting the Nonsense Word Fluency benchmark by the middle of first grade and the Oral Reading Fluency benchmark by the end of first grade.
- PSF scores below benchmark can indicate either accuracy or fluency difficulties, or both. A student who guesses at sounds quickly could get a relatively high score. A student who correctly names every sound attempted but fails to score 35 exhibits a fluency problem.
- Be aware that students with low PSF scores may also be struggling with other, simpler components of phonological awareness, such as rhyming and onset-rime blending. It will take some careful thought and understanding of phonological awareness to sequence phonemic activities sequentially
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)
What skills does NWF measure?
- NWF measures knowledge of and ability to apply letter-sound relationships, which is phonics.
- Two skills are measured: 1) whether students can name letter-sounds; and
2) whether students can blend sounds to read unfamiliar (nonsense) words with short vowels in CVC or VC patterns.
- The lower-level skill is the knowledge that letters represent sounds and the knowledge of the most common sounds for each letter.
- The more advanced skill measured by NWF is the ability to recode (blend) letter sounds into unfamiliar words that cannot be recognized by sight.
Nonsense words are presented so that the child can demonstrate:
-The understanding that letters represent sounds.
-The ability to read words that are unfamiliar (not known by sight).
What are some common characteristics of NWF?
- Students who achieve the benchmark goal of 50 and read 15 words as wholes
are on track to meet the benchmark ORF score at the end of 1stgrade.
- Students who read the nonsense words sound by sound and achieve a score of
50 (without recoding/blending) do not show mastery of early phonics skills.
- The benchmark score of 50 plus 15 can be applied to students of any age who
demonstrate weak phonics skills, including those in grades 2-3.
- Students who do not process words by relying on sound-symbol relationships
often use more inefficient strategies.
Please practice these nonsense words with your child by timing them for 1 minute.
pag biv ep yol lem bup
vam pim bok pef ep pum
fap biv wom pel bup ub
ob taf vit tob meb mun
zam ut fis dos fet fuv
lan sig zot ig mel vup
faz lig lon weg wum og
mab zik som deg ib nuk
mot ok lim pon sen sug
dat yit vob af zet rup
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
What skills does ORF measure?
ORF measures whether the student can read connected text accurately and fluently.
Why are these skills important?
- One of the strongest research findings is the positive relationship between fluency and comprehension.
- Readers who read dysfluenty often lack underlying skills.
- By looking at the patterns in the ORF passages in the student booklet, the teacher may get a feel for the student’s weakness. A student who misses many words may have underlying issues with phonics or phonemic awareness. A student who reads accurately but does not meet the benchmark score may need to work on fluency.
- A general rule is that students who score lower than 20 wpm on ORF at any age have a strong need for phonics instruction.
- Students that score higher than 40 wpm with at least 95% accuracy will benefit from fluency instruction.
- Students who read with less than 95% accuracy, no matter what their fluency score, mostly likely need help with either decoding skills or with slowing their pace so that they read more accurately (DIBELS: The Practical Manual, p. 195).
- There are at least two tasks that compete for the emerging reader’s attention
word recognition and comprehension.
- Achieving fluency-- accurate and automatic reading at the word level, enables the reader to devote adequate attention to meaning-making, or comprehension, as well.
What is Dibels?
The DIBELS measures are indicators of the skill area they are designed to assess. Each DIBELS measure is a quick and efficient indicator of how well a child is doing in learning a particular early reading skill.
**Yes it is good to see your child meet the DIBELS benchmark goals; however, in DIBELS, the benchmark levels are minimum acceptable levels rather than the goal. The goal is for most students to be above these benchmarks.
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF)
What skills does PSF measure?
- Phoneme segmentation is a component of phonemic awareness.
- PSF measures the ability to segment word parts, specifically, whether the student can segment one-syllable words with two to five phonemes, into its phonemes.
- Students who cannot segment words into phonemes (sounds) may later have difficulty matching phonemes with graphemes (a letter or letter combination that represent sounds).
These students are likely to have difficulty recoding (blending) the sounds in written words, even if they can accurately identify the letter sounds.
- Without phonemic awareness, phonics will make little sense to the struggling reader.
What are some common characteristics of PSF scores?
- The highest scores are obtained if the student separates the words into phonemes. However, the student earns points by accurately naming any part of the word.
- A student who cannot name at least 35 parts in one minute by the end of kindergarten is at risk for not meeting the Nonsense Word Fluency benchmark by the middle of first grade and the Oral Reading Fluency benchmark by the end of first grade.
- PSF scores below benchmark can indicate either accuracy or fluency difficulties, or both. A student who guesses at sounds quickly could get a relatively high score. A student who correctly names every sound attempted but fails to score 35 exhibits a fluency problem.
- Be aware that students with low PSF scores may also be struggling with other, simpler components of phonological awareness, such as rhyming and onset-rime blending. It will take some careful thought and understanding of phonological awareness to sequence phonemic activities sequentially
Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF)
What skills does NWF measure?
- NWF measures knowledge of and ability to apply letter-sound relationships, which is phonics.
- Two skills are measured: 1) whether students can name letter-sounds; and
2) whether students can blend sounds to read unfamiliar (nonsense) words with short vowels in CVC or VC patterns.
- The lower-level skill is the knowledge that letters represent sounds and the knowledge of the most common sounds for each letter.
- The more advanced skill measured by NWF is the ability to recode (blend) letter sounds into unfamiliar words that cannot be recognized by sight.
Nonsense words are presented so that the child can demonstrate:
-The understanding that letters represent sounds.
-The ability to read words that are unfamiliar (not known by sight).
What are some common characteristics of NWF?
- Students who achieve the benchmark goal of 50 and read 15 words as wholes
are on track to meet the benchmark ORF score at the end of 1stgrade.
- Students who read the nonsense words sound by sound and achieve a score of
50 (without recoding/blending) do not show mastery of early phonics skills.
- The benchmark score of 50 plus 15 can be applied to students of any age who
demonstrate weak phonics skills, including those in grades 2-3.
- Students who do not process words by relying on sound-symbol relationships
often use more inefficient strategies.
Please practice these nonsense words with your child by timing them for 1 minute.
pag biv ep yol lem bup
vam pim bok pef ep pum
fap biv wom pel bup ub
ob taf vit tob meb mun
zam ut fis dos fet fuv
lan sig zot ig mel vup
faz lig lon weg wum og
mab zik som deg ib nuk
mot ok lim pon sen sug
dat yit vob af zet rup
Oral Reading Fluency (ORF)
What skills does ORF measure?
ORF measures whether the student can read connected text accurately and fluently.
Why are these skills important?
- One of the strongest research findings is the positive relationship between fluency and comprehension.
- Readers who read dysfluenty often lack underlying skills.
- By looking at the patterns in the ORF passages in the student booklet, the teacher may get a feel for the student’s weakness. A student who misses many words may have underlying issues with phonics or phonemic awareness. A student who reads accurately but does not meet the benchmark score may need to work on fluency.
- A general rule is that students who score lower than 20 wpm on ORF at any age have a strong need for phonics instruction.
- Students that score higher than 40 wpm with at least 95% accuracy will benefit from fluency instruction.
- Students who read with less than 95% accuracy, no matter what their fluency score, mostly likely need help with either decoding skills or with slowing their pace so that they read more accurately (DIBELS: The Practical Manual, p. 195).
- There are at least two tasks that compete for the emerging reader’s attention
word recognition and comprehension.
- Achieving fluency-- accurate and automatic reading at the word level, enables the reader to devote adequate attention to meaning-making, or comprehension, as well.